To begin the journey of transforming to the cloud, it’s important to understand some key facts about the cloud computing industry.
Cloud adoption has generated $1 trillion in value for Fortune 500 companies, with innovation and optimization now driving growth more than just cost reductions. Cloud transformation is here to stay.
In the third quarter of 2022, global spending on cloud infrastructure services reached $57 billion, bringing the total over the past 12 months to $217 billion.
As businesses quickly adopt cloud computing, it’s clear that transitioning to the cloud is no longer just a far-off idea but a necessity. However, transforming to the cloud can be challenging, and outcomes will only be positive if a thoughtful, seamless cloud strategy is implemented.
What is Cloud Transformation?
Cloud transformation involves moving all of a business’s data, applications, infrastructure, and associated hardware and software to the cloud. As an organization begins its transition to the cloud, the circumstances, progress, and development of its cloud environment will undergo changes as time goes on.
While a business with a single service will focus on developing a domain adoption loop and foundational capabilities, large institutions will take a different approach.
For them, foundational cloud services provide the basis for building workloads. Only when these work together can successful cloud transformation occur. As external capabilities grow richer, companies need to evolve their adoption strategy, approach, and foundational capabilities.
Cloud transformation requires aligning business objectives, establishing metrics for monitoring and optimization, and leveraging data governance solutions to drive decision-making.
What are the reasons for transitioning to cloud computing?
The benefits of transitioning to cloud computing are now obvious and outweigh any limitations. Most companies today are not questioning whether they should move to the cloud, but rather what aspects of their operations they should transition.
Cloud computing provides more flexibility, reliability, performance, and efficiency, while lowering IT costs. It also promotes innovation by enabling faster time-to-market and integrating AI and machine learning into business strategies. These primary advantages can also lead to related benefits like increased productivity, support for remote employees, and operational enhancements.
Additionally, adopting cloud computing does not have to be an all-or-nothing approach. Many companies are finding a hybrid model beneficial, as it expands the capabilities of existing infrastructure while still operating in an optimal environment overall.
Transformation in the cloud versus migration to the cloud
Cloud transformation and cloud migration are terms that are frequently used interchangeably, but they refer to different concepts. Cloud transformation encompasses a full cycle of digital innovation, including modernizing an organization’s legacy applications and infrastructure end-to-end, optimizing data and analytics, implementing cloud security, cost optimization, and other elements that enable digital transformation overall.
Cloud migration, on the other hand, involves moving some or all of a company’s digital assets, services, databases, and applications into the cloud.
While cloud migration is a component of cloud transformation, cloud transformation is a much broader endeavor to digitally transform an organization through strategic and comprehensive changes, of which migration to the cloud is just one part.
Advantages of Transitioning to the Cloud
Moving to the cloud provides multiple benefits beyond just cost savings for businesses.
1. Improved Efficiency
With cloud computing, information can be accessed instantly with the click of a button. Transitioning to the cloud boosts data access, enables real-time collaboration, eliminates data silos, and enhances analytics across the organization. Additionally, IT staff can focus more on innovation rather than routine infrastructure maintenance.
2. Enhanced Security
Many organizations worry about storing data outside of their own premises due to concerns about data theft, phishing, and malware.
However, on-premise data is much more vulnerable to attacks than data stored in the cloud. The latter is secured through encryption and extra layers of protection that prevent unauthorized access. Furthermore, the cloud offers multiple data backup options that can significantly minimize downtime from system failures.
3. Better Cost Management
Data management costs can become exorbitant for organizations without the right resources. With cloud services, businesses can avoid capital expenditures related to physical infrastructure and only pay for desired usage levels that can scale as needed. Maintenance and labor demands are also reduced, freeing up resources for catalyzing other organizational initiatives.
4. Streamlined Scaling
To stay competitive, businesses need improved scaling abilities to accommodate priorities and keep pace with the evolving market. Cloud services provide a key advantage here, as on-premise systems face numerous delays stretching weeks or months.
5. Faster Prototyping
Enabling cloud transformation requires organizations to pivot business processes several times. Cloud platforms allow users to develop, test and deploy applications rapidly on different channels without complex infrastructure setup.
With cloud services, organizations can think about optimal computing resources, infrastructure and platforms rather than investing in multiple IT resources. Businesses can test different tools with their applications before transitioning fully to the cloud.
6. Enhanced Collaboration
The cloud lets businesses collaborate across multiple teams and time zones more smoothly. This has become pivotal to organizational success as it increases productivity. Moreover, when teams can access, retrieve and process information anytime, businesses gain a competitive edge and can more easily align employee goals with organizational goals.
Challenges of cloud computing
Cloud computing, like any technology, has its benefits and drawbacks. A major disadvantage is its reliance on an internet connection. Traditional computing uses a physical wired network to access data on servers or storage, whereas cloud computing depends on a stable internet connection.
Connection issues could prevent access to needed apps or info until resolved. Even top providers can have downtime from natural disasters or technical problems that disrupt connectivity.
Other potential issues with cloud computing include:
– Risk of depending too much on one vendor that locks you in
– Less control over the underlying infrastructure
– Concerns about security threats to data privacy and online security
– Complexity integrating cloud apps and platforms with existing systems
– Unexpected costs or expenses
The good news is most disadvantages can be addressed by thoroughly researching providers and service models to clearly understand offerings, pricing, and where security responsibilities lie. Choosing an open cloud platform also provides more flexibility to build, operate, and integrate services as needed.
Creating a strategy for transforming to the cloud
Undertaking Cloud Transformation can seem daunting, but with proper planning and strategic execution, potential challenges can be overcome. Best practices for a successful transformation include:
1. Analyzing Competitors
Studying competitors provides perspective on an organization’s strengths and weaknesses. This insight assists in determining where to allocate time and resources for optimal results.
2. Aligning Objectives and Tactics
Aligning business processes is critical since most organizations now rely on cloud-based business models. Goals, systems and processes must be defined. Then, objectives should be documented, priorities set, and a cloud transformation roadmap created to guide efforts.
3. Selecting the Right Cloud Platform
The cloud provider chosen can make or break the cloud transformation journey. With many high-quality options available, finding the right business fit and evaluating all choices against organizational goals is key. Executing strategically valuable approaches brings stability and longevity. Moreover, administrative support, technology compatibility, upgrades, and deployment ease are important considerations.
4. Monitoring and Optimizing
A successful cloud transformation continues beyond initial migration. Monitoring and optimizing cloud usage uncovers additional efficiencies. Focusing on metrics that impact the bottom line and user experience makes a difference. Ongoing system performance evaluation also prevents issues from worsening.
5. Leveraging Data Governance
Current data governance policies and processes require analysis before cloud migration. A robust data governance policy should outline storage methods, processes, responsibilities, and more.
Solutions that evolve with the business and emphasize continuous improvement facilitate automation and efficiency. This enables seamless data transition from on-premises to the cloud.
Organizations starting a governance program should use tools to plan, manage, and operationalize data governance to offload IT staff.
6. Considering Cloud Security and Compliance
A cloud transformation’s success depends on cloud security as the top priority. Impact analysis is the first step in uncovering security gaps and future goals.
Cloud data catalogs help identify and mitigate common cloud migration risks. This allows users to prepare for and respond better to challenges.
Read Also: What is the primary benefit of using cloud computing services?
Conclusion
Cloud migration is one of the most crucial projects organizations will take on. With cloud services, new growth opportunities will open up and you’ll be able to scale more efficiently to meet customer demand.
However, every technological change comes with security threats and new opportunities. Security analytics, scanning for vulnerabilities, and log collection will help protect your systems from threats and also enhance security and compliance.
Legacy applications are known to limit visibility, and moving to the cloud will accelerate cloud transformation and promote digital evolution in companies. The inherent need to transform the core infrastructure will affect timelines for cloud migration, and overcoming these barriers will unlock the true potential of digital transformation.
Hexaware is a cloud migration service provider that effectively handles obstacles, ensures high quality and efficiency, and reduces overall ownership costs.
Hexaware’s cloud migration division can seamlessly drive large-scale enterprise cloud migration by expanding the digital footprint of companies and bringing data, infrastructure, and applications together under one roof.
Reimagining customer experiences and providing top-notch transformative cloud solutions put businesses on the path of cost optimization and agility. Thus, they can unlock unlimited potential and accelerate their cloud migration journey most cost-effectively.
organizations can analyze applications in record time, leverage automation, and execute operations on all target architectures. Some of the features organizations can’t afford to miss include:
- Seamless capabilities to analyze applications in days
- Robust recommendations down to the code level
- Comprehensive service catalogs of granular migration and modernization patterns
- Automation tools designed for even the toughest enterprise workloads
- Actionable insights and seamless implementation with exhaustive templates, cookbooks, and a handbook of best practices to ensure compliance, security, and robust architecture
- Leverage the power of economic toolkits to build the optimal cloud migration strategy.
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